The annual NAHL Draft happened on Tuesday and the Maryland Black Bears used it as a nice jumping off point for their franchise, selecting 13 players in the draft. The NAHL draft lasted 16 rounds, which means Maryland made the most of their time.

However, before the draft, they tendered two offers to two players out of the pre-draft camp in Matteo Menotti and Brady Lindauer. Menotti had 24 goals and 45 points in 29 games with the Minnesota Moose of the US Premier League. Menotti has also played seven games in the NAHL in the past two seasons between the Odessa Jackalopes and Minnesota Wilderness. Lindauer played in the NA3HL with the La Crosse Freeze, netting 48 assists and 64 points in only 34 games while also having seven games of NAHL time with the Coulee Region Chill.

With the first overall pick in the actual draft, the Black Bears picked Steve Agriogianis, who split time between Cedar Rapids, Omaha, and Central Illinois of the USHL last season. The interesting thing with this pick is that Agriogianis is supposed to join Penn State University this season, as well as attending camp with Central Illinois in the summer. This means Maryland is third on the depth chart with Agriogianis most likely, which makes you wonder why they picked someone with obvious other options with the top pick if your team is the second fall-back option.

In the second round, Maryland picked another player committed to Division I in 2018-19 in Patrick Choi. Choi is committed to Bentley University for next season, but if he does stay in juniors another year, Choi would be a great producer. In the NCDC AAA side, Choi was the tenth leading scorer in the league with 23 goals and 53 points in his 48 games between Boston and Syracuse.

A little local flavor in the third round, as Maryland picked Andrew Lucas, who was born in Alexandria, Virginia. A commit to University of Vermont, Lucas played with the Loomis Chaffee Prep School and Yale Jr. Bulldogs this past season. Lucas is coming off of back-to-back 28-point seasons with Loomis Chaffee from the blue line.

Here’s the rest of the picks from the Draft for the Black Bears:

-Cole Gibbs, D, St. Mary’s Prep (MI)
-Luc Salem, D, Alberni Valley (BCHL)
-Max Borst, F, Edina High (MN)
-Tristan Culleton, D, Steinbach (MJHL)
-Joseph Demers, C/RW, Dallas Stars U18 (TX)
-Brayden Shaw, F, Regina (Sask. Midget)
-Kobe Keller, C/RW, Soo (Northern Ont.)
-Luke Mountain, F, Shattuck St. Mary (MN)
-Marek Wazny, C, Burlington (Ont.)
-Thomas Jarman, D, Omaha AAA (NE)

There are still free agent camps to be had for the Black Bears, as they’ll hold a free agent camp in Rockville before they have their invite-only game in late July to round out their team before the September training camp in their inaugural season.